The History & Societal Impacts of the iPod

-
From the late 1990’s through the early 2000s, one of the most popular forms of technology was the MP3
player. People were able to walk around while listening to music, which seemed unheard of during the
era of the CD player. However in 2000, Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, wanted to create a better version
of an MP3 player. 

Head of the hardware department of Apple was Jon Rubinstein and it was his job to create it. After a few
weeks, he said that technology was not advanced enough to create such a device. The product would
either be too bulky, the battery would be bad, or it would have limited memory. Fortunately, Rubinstein
takes yearly trips to Toshiba, Tokyo which is one of Apple’s hardware suppliers. There, they showed him
their new prototype for a 1.8-inch hard drive. With the new technology, Rubinstein recruited engineer
Tony Fadell to work alongside him on the hardware. Together they created the first iPod which launched
in 2001. The iPod held 1,000 songs and cost $400. 
Image result for first ipod
The First Generation iPod, released on October 23, 2001


Unfortunately, the public did not give great feedback. Many people thought it was too expensive for such
an average device. People preferred using their original, cheaper device over the iPod. Although the
beginning of the launch was not successful, it all turned around in October of 2002. Apple launched an
update of iTunes (iTunes 4.1) that was compatible with Windows 2000 and XP, which allowed for
thousands of more people to listen to music more easily. 
As Apple grew as a company, they expanded their products. Every year, they released an updated version of the iPod before. For example, in 2003 Apple released its third generation iPod, which had touch-sensitive buttons under the screen. Also with this, Apple introduced the Apple Music store, which had 200,000 songs sold for 99 cents each. This was a huge change in the music industry because up until then, downloading music was free. However, Jobs argued that the ease and simplicity of the iPod outweighs the price of songs and that downloading free music online is considered stealing. He believed that his customers would want to do the right thing.




Image result for ipod generations in order

The iPod left many impacts on our society. First, it reconstructed the electronic industry. Before the iPod, people used MP3 players, and the new iPod was faster, easier, and more convenient for consumers to use. The iPod was seen as the best portable music device in the industry. Second, it changed the music industry. iTunes, which is the online music store paired with Apple, has become one of the largest well-known billion dollar online stores in the world. Often times when people would buy an iPod, they would start using iTunes as well. Lastly, the iPod shifted the way people viewed Apple as a company. Before the iPod, people only saw Apple as an expensive computer store. With the new cheap iPods, people began going to the Apple store more. Because of this, people would end up buying new Apple products to replace their older devices. With this cycle of people buying more Apple products, the company eventually grew to become the world’s largest and most expensive information technology company.
Sources: 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Online Presence

-
Image
As a teenager living through the booming age of technology and social media, I myself am a big user of social media. I have used just about every form of social media- Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Pinterest, Tik Tok- the list goes on. I use social media as a way to check up on my friends and family to see what they are doing, and I also follow a few celebrities that I consider to be role models. Social media started as a fun way to pass time, however millions of people are now obsessed with it. People are constantly checking their phones for notifications from their social media and spend hours on it at a time. I can even admit to myself that I have accidentally spent more time than I wanted on social media because I get caught up looking through so many accounts.   People’s social media pages are basically giving a shallow explanation of who they are- or who they want to be. The content of the posts depends on which site you are posting on. For e...
Read more

How Technology & Social Media Has Affected Our Society

-
Image
In today’s society, technology has become an essential part of people's everyday lives. People cannot go a day, let alone a few hours without checking their notifications and social media, myself included. Even when my phone does not buzz with notifications, I constantly check it, anticipating some sort of interaction with my friends. In Sherry Turkle’s TED talk, she talks about how technology has negatively impacted today’s society. People of all ages in modern day society are addicted to their phones, and because of this people have lost social skills, changed who they are, and use technology for companionship.  Sherry Turkle has been doing research about technology and its effects on our social skills for years. Through her studies, she found that people prefer to talk over the phone and through social media rather than face to face interactions. During her studies, she found that an 18 year old boy said, “someday, someday, but certainly not now, I would...
Read more

Bryan Carmody: First Amendment Debate

-
Image
On Friday January 24 2020, police raided the home of a San Francisco freelance reporter, Bryan Carmody, using a sledgehammer. They arrived at his house at about 8 a.m. & started hitting the front gate of his home. Once the officers had a search warrant, they searched the home top to bottom in order to find a confidential police report that was leaked about the death of Jeff Adachi, who was the city's public defender.  Bryan Carmody being detained by police on 1/24/20 Two weeks prior, the police came to his home to ask for the source that gave him the information, but he refused. He claimed, "There's only two people on this planet who know who leaked this report- me & the guy who leaked it,". While the officers searched his house and found the case notes, Carmody was held at the police department from 8:22 a.m. to 1:55 p.m. The police claimed that the notes were stolen/embezzled property.  After the incident, many people believed th...
Read more